temp gauge in the red?
 

I had a coolant leak from the rad and I noticed when driving the needle went into the red quickly so I pulled over as quick as I could safely. I got some water and poured it into the tank. I started it and drove to the shop about 1 km down the road. The needle went back into the red and I coasted into the shop not exceeding 60kms in 5th the whole time. The engine seems to run great no problem or abnormal smoking anywhere. The needle was in the red for maybe a total of 25 seconds.
My Question is
has anyone experianced severe enging damage due to this?
what should I look for once I replace the radiator?

don't worry. 25 seconds won't hurt.

I just replaced my ENTIRE coolant system - $900 labor/$900 parts including the radiator. 74k miles

shouldn't be bad. In my old e36, my tstat failed and it overheated and i had to drive for about 5 minutes with no issues. I drove another 75,000km on the car after, then sold it.

If you're over 60k miles (95k km) you should replace the entire cooling system. They are prone to failure.

what do you guys mean by the whole cooling system Is it just Rad, Hoses and resevoir tank? Anything else?

im assuming also waterpump/tstat

water pump was just done few months back. Not sure about t-stat

Had your car been parked in the cold for a while? I recall posts that suggested the coolant froze limiting circulation and causing overheating. Driving in the red zone for longer than a few miles could damage the engine. Eventually, the overheating will kill an engine. It doesn't sound like you hurt yours. Good luck

Ya thats possible, about the water freezing, But I could see it leaking out from the bottom. When I had the X5 towed I started it to move it for the tow and as soon as I started the engine it went into the red. It was sitting in the cold for about 8 hours, so its almost like a safe mode or something to say to the driver, don't Drive me! What do you guys think?